AgroecologyNow!

What’s Up With Agroecology Now!? 2020/06 Update

See below for some highlights of our latest work, including free to download articles and videos. Feel free to pass some or all of this on to your networks or to copy/adapt parts for use in newsletters, etc. There are also a number of recent and freely downloadable articles listed below.

In solidarity with anti-racist struggles in the US and beyond

The murder of George Floyd has laid bare, once again, the abhorrent anti-black racism within policing in the USA. The video of the killing of George Floyd captured one instance of the racist and violent conditions that African Americans live with daily. The widespread hurt and pain of centuries of anti-blackness in policing and more broadly in society, forms the basis of sustained and powerful African American-led protests across every state in the USA. In acts of solidarity, and in resistance… [Read more: https://wp.me/p67WNH-B].

2020 – a Super Year for Biodiversity?

We are at the most critical ‘fork in the road’ which humans have ever faced and that we need to organise society along a path that will enable us to live within planetary boundaries. The hype leading into the meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was that it marked the start of a ‘Super Year for Biodiversity’. In this blog, Patrick Mulvany ruminates on whether, in the context of the crises of climate change, human-animal disease transmission and biodiversity loss, will the increased awareness of people’s relation to the planet could mark 2020 as the year when we take a different path in order to secure Life on Earth. https://tinyurl.com/yd46czw8

Prioritising Agroecology and Challenging Corporate Technology-Led Approaches in the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and Beyond

This comment at agroecologynow.com joins other groups in expressing concerns over the corporate-led technocratic approach taking further hold at the UN, and in regards to the upcoming UN Food Summit in particular. It calls for the centering of bio-culturally diverse agroecology, the right to food and gender transformative approaches. Only from this perspective, rooted in a commitment to reversing environmental decline, supporting livelihoods and confronting all forms of inequity, will the summit be able to make a useful contribution to the long-term and difficult work ahead https://wp.me/p67WNH-yY

Liberate research and technology from growth-first ideology

Check out this new video and blog entry from Barbara Van Dyck that takes a critical view on research and technology to advocate for an orientation that enables “the pursuit of food-justice and the flourishing of all life”.  Barbara joined the team at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience – CAWR in April 2020. https://youtu.be/OuVphCghiUc

EU Farm to Fork Strategy: Collective response from food sovereignty scholars

On June 5, 23 scholar-activists from various academic institutions in the EU released their collective analysis of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. The document (available in English, French, Spanish) commends the European Commission for putting together a vision for the future of our food systems but identifies a number of shortcomings that stand in the way of a fair, healthy and rights-based transition. It covers a range of issues including production, consumption, trade, research and innovation, and international cooperation. It points to key steps to put agroecology really at the centre of an ambitious EU Strategy. Relatedly, supporting the advocacy work of the Nyéléni Food Sovereignty Movement in Europe and Central Asia, this academic brief highlights the importance of food sovereignty for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and the European New Green Deal.

No Time for Justice? Food Policy and Emergency Thinking in the Brexit Moment

This blog entry summarizes a newly published journal article on our research on policy discourse on food and farming in the 18 months following the Brexit referendum. We found a lack of direct attention to many of the issues and dynamics that are central to food justice. Despite this, there were important examples that we found in our study that signaled to us five questions that can help policy actors and advocates reflexively “read for justice” in their work. Read this post to learn about the main results of our study. A video and other materials are also available here: https://wp.me/p67WNH-AZ

New listserv on re-shaping research to better support agroecology

This discussion forum focuses on how to make publicly funded research support an agroecological transition. It is a space of exchange and dialogue for a growing network of critical agroecology researchers across the UK, Europe and beyond. Visit: https://wp.me/P67WNH-AA to join.

 

AgroecologyNow! Publications (Click to download)

 

Highlighted Publications, Events and Updates From our Networks

Publications

Upcoming events

 

Special section featuring reports on COVID and food systems

We have been reading and engaging in discussions about COVID. The body of articles, blogs, etc. is vast and growing. We wanted to share a few of the key collections of articles we’ve found as well as a small selection of some articles that we’ve been discussing in relation to agroecology and food sovereignty.

Collections of articles

Individual articles we’re reading/discussing